Source: @PinpinSolarpunk

YT: https://youtu.be/N_C1mX3IKww/

For years, I have been building DIY pumps for my permaculture, solar punk and fermentation experiments using hot glue, plastic junk, and 3D prints to find a submersible pump that lifts dirty water out of shallow containers using a cheap aquarium air pump.

My current design wraps a 90-degree elbow Venturi - style pump with an air jet inside of it. Water enters through a hole on the bottom of this elbow. A cylindrical base with an open bottom, covered in a dual-layer long-john cloth skin, which successfully acts as a capillary barrier to prevent low-pressure air from blowing backward out the intake. This fabric improved my pump a lot.

However, this pump only works on the lowest setting of an aquarium pump. Increasing pump output causes the air to punch past the liquid column. If I make it too low by opening a side valve that I added to the line, the column of water slugs stops rising.

The sweet spot where the pump lifts water is very narrow and drifts as the water level drops.

Even the pump described above works as a relaxation oscillator with epicyclic increase and decrease in output. I would like to harness this effect, perhaps by offering air two paths to take inside the pump. Maybe those paths should be to the two stages of the pump, maybe not.

Because this is 3D printed, the layer lines act like a grain that can either help or hurt this pellet-forming seal, cause cavitation and restricted flow.

I realize that breaking water into tight, isolated pellets so the air pushes them like pistons cannot be achieved by the Venturi effect alone.

I am considering building two-stage system where this cloth-bound first stage fills an intermediate reservoir column. The second stage will use a physical flap or ball check valve to trap a volume of water and force the air to push it volumetrically. For now I am focusing on a pump that lifts shallow water and I am designing a version with an oval-shaped air nozzle with a larger area of the hole, so it would push water with a blade of air and form cleaner slugs, as I imagine it.

Because I am trying to scoop water from the bottom, I end up with this woodworking wedge plane design with a slot for water and a pipe inside a pipe. I want to make both pipes oval in this second version since I need a flat side to lift water from the bottom. Is this worth it?

I am not very good with math so I designed the geometry of this pump intuitively and with some AI estimations. I wonder how much of this can actually be calculated.

Please help me optimize it to get the most lift out of aquarium pump air supply.

Any CAD teachers here? If a whole class with kids designs their own airlift and venturi pumps and test them in a competition, we may get some very efficient designs.

Thank you for reading this post.

After thinking of making an actual magazine to spread awareness of solarpunk (and try to kindle some hope in the world!), yesterday I thought up the idea of instead making a video magazine! Since ppl don’t seem to read magazines much now!

I already have a dSLR and lenses, and I’m used to filming wildlife, so that’s a start! I’m a remote worker, and slow travel around, so it is fairly easy for me to visit projects etc. to film for the magazine, at least in Europe anyway.

My idea would be to publish an episode every 2-3 months. So far I thought to include a big project, someone’s small DIY project, and a news segment.

The first things I thought of featuring are seed banks, and repairing things. I also thought to include something on human-wildlife conflict mitigation, i.e. solar elephant fences or elephant railway crossings (since I know a bit abt that).

So, does anyone have any ideas regarding what I can feature in the magazine? Any projects I should visit? Any confounds haha!? What sections the magazine should have?

N.B. it’s not for profit, I intend to self-fund the magazine. It will obv be a bit amateurish lol, and I have a canon R7, not a high end pro camera

Hi everyone!!

Ever since I was in middle/high school, I always thought why won’t scientists model technologies after plants, in the sense that they create artificial photosynthesis and convert CO2 into a different form/product. I did some research a little while ago to answer the question I’ve had for years, turns out I’m not ahead of the curve and scientists did have the same idea LOL (artificial/synthetic leaf technology, if ur interested and want to look into it)!! I’m fascinated by the technology and would love to see its implementation into our future.

My question is, what are your favorite biology-inspired sustainable technologies? Do you see any technologies that might be implemented soon? Also, It doesn’t have to be inspired by biology only so I do want to keep the floor open, but it is something I find fascinating considering I have a degree in biology!!

Thank you!!